It's Only Life
by Adrian Jade
Summary: They knew they weren't welcome the moment they walked through the door of Legacy Prep, where the blood was blue and the pockets were lined in green. They were different. Outsiders who did not belong. Welcome or not they were there to stay.
1. Chapter 1

Sallie Mae, she hated being called that. It wasn't her name and just because she was lucky enough to even get a scholarship to this private school should not define her. She was rooming with three other girls. They, like herself were also referred to as Sallie Maes.

"I hate this!" She exclaimed one night. Her roommate Sadie looked up from her book.

"We all knew we would be treated like this." Sadie said before shrugging. "It's not that bad I guess."

"Sadie, does anyone beside Tiff and Maddie and myself know your real name?" Lea asked.

"Can you two shut up so I can get my beauty rest" Maddie yelled at them.

"Good luck with that one." Lea let out a small chuckle. A pillow came sailing straight at her head. Sadie shook her head in annoyance before returning her attention to her book.

They all came from different places. Lea lived on the outskirts of Boston; she had the thick townie accent and the attitude to prove it. Tiffany was from Buffalo, New York. She was an avid Yankees fan, which drove Lea up a wall. Next came Sadie, she was from Pennsylvania. Finally there was Maddie; the funny thing was Maddie was from an all white suburb of Virginia. Her family was the one black family in a sea of white ones.

They were all too smart for their old schools. None of them could be challenged so here they were. Legacy Prep, where the blood was blue and the pockets were lined in green. Lea hated being here more than the rest of them. She often thought about calling home and asking her parents to withdraw her. But she knew they wouldn't. She knew they were so proud of her for getting into such a prestigious school.

Lea settled herself in bed and stared at the ceiling. Wracking her brain for at least one good thing about being where she was. She liked her writing teacher, he was pretty cool. Always challenging her to be the best that she could be.

"Tomorrow will be better." She always whispered the same thing to herself every night. It was like her little mantra to help her get ready for whatever torture she would have to face the next day. She just hoped that one day she would actually be right.

"I heard there is one last scholarship kid starting tomorrow." Tiffany said after a few minutes of silence. "Heard his name is Carlos."

"Poor guy. He'll have it even worse than we do." Ashley winced at what the guys of the school were going to do to him.

"That's for sure." Sadie agreed.

The door to their room opened. Their RA popped her head into the room. "Lights out girls."

They all did as was asked of them. Soon everyone was asleep but Lea. She ran her fingers along the side of her bed frame and pulled out her pocket flash light. She turned it on and looked around to see if it woke anyone up. Above her bunk she had taped pictures from home. One was of her parents, some of her friends and of her two dogs Springsteen and Cullen. But she only had one of her boyfriend. His name was Andrew and being so far away from him was the main reason why she hated this place so much. She was in the picture with him. She had her arms wrapped around him and they both looked so happy and in love. Seeing how happy she was brought tears to her eyes. Why did she agree to go to this horrible school? She could not remember anymore. But she was here now and there was no going home.

"Tomorrow will be better." She repeated before shutting off her flashlight and sticking it back where she got it.


	2. Chapter 2

Sometimes she pretended she was invisible. If people couldn't see her they could not make fun of her. Maddie was walking next to her and Sadie next to her. Lea looked to her left and could see Maryse sneer at her. She lowered her gaze to her shoes and continued walking. That was until she collided with something hard. She looked up terrified; she prayed she walked into a wall. But no such luck. Standing before her was a 6'5 mass of muscle. His crystal blue eyes looked irate.

"What the hell Sallie Mae!" Randy Orton yelled in her face. Why did it have to be him? Out of all the people in that school why did she have to walk into the one who seemed to hate her the most? The feeling was mutual by the way.

"Sorry I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." She mumbled an apology.

"No fucking kidding." He continued to glare at her.

Maddie could see Lea coiling up within herself. She needed to take action. "Look Orton she said she was sorry. Leave her alone."

"What did you just say to me?" The turned his venomous stare towards Maddie. Randy Orton may have been more than a foot taller than her and probably double her weight but she was not afraid of him.

"I said leave her alone." Maddie reiterated.

The bell rang for their next class to begin. Randy gave the group one last glare. "This is not over." He stormed off towards his next class.

"Maddie you really should not have done that." Lea looked a little green after the encounter. "Now he is going to be coming after you too."

"Let him." Maddie stated. "I will cut that white boy down to size. He shouldn't be talking to anyone like that. Just because our parents don't make billions of dollars doesn't make us the scum of the earth."

"Let's just forget about it and head to class." Lea suggested. She began walking a little ahead of Maddie and Sadie. The two exchanged worried looks. Out of all the "Sallie Maes" Lea was adjusting the worst. She just did not have enough self confidence to stick up for herself. She would rather just be ignored for their next four years there. What she did not seem to understand is whether she wanted the attention or not she was going to get it. If she did not learn to stick up for herself she would be walking around with a target on her back until she graduated.

Lea was in the library studying for a biology test she would have the next day. Tiff promised that she would study with her but it seemed that her class was running late. So Lea was all by herself.

"Hey Sallie Mae." Lea looked up from her book completely annoyed. Before her was Randy Orton's best friend John Cena. He was just as mean and uncaring as Orton only slightly better looking.

"My name is not Sallie Mae ... It's Lea ok." She vented at him. He just stood there and took it. She blinked a few times unsure why he was still standing there. "What do you want?"

"You got your scholarship because you are like super smart right?" He asked.

"I supposed you could say that." She indirectly answered his question.

He looked almost pained when he opened his mouth again. "You know I am on the football team right?"

"Uh huh ... and I really do not care." She was getting even more annoyed that he was taking up her study time.

"Look I need your help." Lea almost swallowed her tongue. How could she possibly help him?

She cocked an eyebrow. "How can I help you?"

"I am failing English and history and if I do not bring those grades up to at least a C I am off the football team."

"So let me get this straight. The mighty John Cena needs to resort to getting the help from a Sallie Mae?" He looked away from her. This infuriated her.

"Yes I guess I do." He said through gritted teeth.

"Sorry not interested." She stood up to leave. She quickly grabbed her books and started to walk away.

"Please Lea." He caught her arms and she stopped walking away. Finally someone here called her by her name. She could not believe how good it sounded.

"I will help you on one condition." She couldn't stop herself from saying.

"What's the condition?" He asked.

"You get Orton to leave me and my friends alone."

John bit is lower lip. That was going to be nearly impossible. Picking on the scholarship kids was Randy's favorite past time.

"I dunno if I am gonna be able to do that." He admitted.

"Then I cannot help you." She started to walk away again.

"Fine I will try." He agreed.

"Fine then meet me back here same time tomorrow." She took a few steps before turning back to look at him. "By the way Cena don't waste my time."


	3. Chapter 3

"Yo Dudettes." Lea sat down with her friends at the breakfast table the next morning. She grabbed a piece of bacon off of Tiffany's plate and ate it.

"What the hell! That was mine!" Tiffany exclaimed.

"So I have a plan on getting Orton to leave us alone." Lea informed her dorm mates.

Sadie looked intrigued. "How?" She asked.

"You see Frankenstein over there." Lea motioned her head over towards the table where John was sitting with his football buddies.

Sadie and Tiffany snickered. "Yep." Tiff confirmed that they did in fact see who she was talking about.

"Well his majesty is failing English and history and if he does not bring his grades up he is off the football team." Lea gave them a toothy grin.

"So what did he ask you to tutor him?" Maddie asked.

"More like begged me." Lea let out a chuckle. "Can you imagine that? He begged me to tutor him. I turned him down at first but then I thought about it. Cena has just enough influence around here as Orton."

"That may be so but I do not see how it helps us." Sadie interjected.

"I made him promise to get Orton to leave us alone and he agreed." The grin on Lea's face got even bigger. "As of today none of us have to worry about Randy Orton anymore."

"None of us except that guy." The three other girls looked where Sadie was looking.

"That must be the new guy." Tiffany said out loud what everyone else was thinking. "I am going to go save him from the shark tank.

She got up and walked over to where the new boy was standing. "Carlos?" She asked. He looked at her as she said his name. "Come sit with us." She motioned for him to follow her.

"Thanks." He said quietly. He followed Tiffany back to her table and took a seat next to her.

"Hi Carlos. I'm Lea and that is Sadie and Maddie."

"Nice to meet you guys." He gave them a small smile. "Are the kids always this friendly?"

The girls could hear the sarcasm in his voice. "Have they started calling you Sallie Mae yet?" Lea asked.

Carlos looked confused. "How did you know about that?"

"Because they call us Sallie Mae too." Maddie said. "All of us are here on scholarship and the rich kids don't like us being here. Well I say fuck them."

"Well said Maddie." They all laughed.

Lea finished her breakfast. "Well guys wish me luck on my test."

There was a chorus of good luck all around. "Catch you guys later." She began walking away.

As Lea walked she caught the attention of John Cena. It puzzled him, she seemed so shy and timid in the way she interacted with the other students. But he had seen a different side of her yesterday.

"Hey Cena what are you looking at that stupid Sallie Mae like that for?" Orton asked. John gritted his teeth. He had promised to get Orton to lay off them.

"She's helping me with something." Cena let on. Although he left out what she was helping him with.

"No way! You dog!" Orton let out a hysterical laugh. "Are you hitting that?"

"What ... no." Cena found himself saying. Then he smirked and said the first thing he could think of not to incriminate himself. "Well at least not yet."

"You go man." Orton clapped his friend hard on the shoulder.

"What do you think of Lea helping Cena?" Sadie asked Maddie as they were walking to class.

"Personally I think it is kinda stupid on her part. But hey it's her life and maybe Orton will leave us alone."

"I don't know." Sadie shook her head. "I have a bad feeling about this whole thing."

"I wouldn't worry about it Lea is a smart girl." Maddie reasoned. "She knows how to take care of herself."

"Maybe." But Sadie was not convinced. She would be keeping a close eye on the situation from now on.


	4. Chapter 4

Sadie kept tapping her pen against her book. Every few minutes she would gaze at her watch and sigh. She was supposed to be working on a project with Lea but a Freddy Kruger marathon was going to start in ten minutes.

"Go." Lea finally said. "I got this covered."

"You sure?" Sadie asked.

"Yes." Lea assured her. "Because if you continue tapping your pen I will kill you so just go and save me the trouble of doing life in prison."

"I do not need to be told twice." With that she was gone.

Lea shook her head but she was laughing a little as she did so. She returned her attention back to her research.

"Hey is anyone sitting here?" Lea looked up when she heard a male voice talking to her.

"Umm ... no help yourself to the chair." She said. She took the time to notice the guy. He was tall about 5'10 with short black hair and brown eyes. She recognized him as one of the senior football players. He was on crutches, with a little difficulty he put the crutches down and had a seat.

"What happened to your leg?" Lea asked before she could stop herself. Then she felt a little bad. "You don't have to answer that. My mother always said I was too nosy for my own good." Her face reddened a little bit.

He laughed. "It's fine. First game of my senior season and I blow out my knee." He explained. "There goes my football career."

"I'm sorry." She truly was.

"That's life." He shrugged. "Maybe it's for the best now I can focus on what I want to do with my life when I leave here."

"I just assumed all you rich kids just started working for your rich daddies companies. You know make CEO by the time you are twenty-five."

He grinned at her. "I will let you in on a little secret. I am not rich and the only reason me and my brother are in this place is because my mother begged her rich brother to pay our way in."

"Really?" She did not really believe him.

"Yes." He assured her. "And as far as working for my rich daddy's company it is kinda hard to do that with no dad to speak of."

"I'm sorry you must think I am the biggest jerk ever."

"No, in fact I think you are right. I see how the younger students treat you and your friends and it is disgusting. You have every right to think badly of us. My whole high school career I have been pretending to be someone I am not. At least you are honest about who you are and where you come from."

"If I could lie I would too."

Now it was his turn not to believe her. "I don't think you would."

"How could you possibly know that? You don't know me from a hole in the wall."

"I can read people." He told her. "And what I am reading from you tells me that you are not a person that could hide who you really are."

"Has anyone ever told you that you are very charming?" she couldn't stop herself from asking.

"Once or twice." He grinned at her.

She did not know what to say next. This was an older guy who was most definitely flirting with her. Ok well maybe not most definitely but there was some flirtation going on here.

"Lea there you are." Tiffany came running up to them. "I just heard from Maddie who heard from Mickie James who was talking to Cena that he wanted to talk to you."

"Did you understand any of that?" Lea asked her new friend.

"It sounds to me like John Cena wants to talk to you."

Lea rolled her eyes. "Great. I gotta go but it was nice talking to you ... wow I never even thought to ask your name."

"Adam. My name is Adam."

"Well then it was nice to meet you Adam. I'll see you around."

"Take care Lea." She gave him a small wave before following Tiffany out of the library.


	5. Chapter 5

+It was late, Lea sat on one of the common room couches quietly watching her favorite movie Labyrinth. She had a bowl of popcorn on her lap. She knew it was rather stupid of her to be sitting all alone at such a late time but she had the urge to watch to movie. Her roomies were sleeping so she decided not to use the television in their room. It was quiet, the only sounds were the ones coming from the movie.

"Whatcha watching?" Lea let out a small scream and threw the bowl of popcorn into the air in fright.

"Jesus Christ Adam you scared me." Lea hissed.

"I am so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. My leg was bothering me so I was out taking a walk in the halls and I saw you watching a movie and I swear I just wanted to say hi."

"It's fine." Lea began cleaning up the popcorn she spilled. "Just please do not do it again."

"I would help you clean up but I cannot exactly bend my right knee." He looked on sympathetically. He felt that he should be helping her clean up the mess.

"Don't worry about it." Lea said. There wasn't too much popcorn to clean up and the task was rather quick. She threw the popcorn away and returned to her place on the couch. "You can join me if you want."

"Labyrinth cool I have not seen this movie in years." He had a seat next to her.

"I watch it every once in a great while. I used to be obsessed with it as a little kid." She laughed as she thought of some distant memory. We looked at her waiting patiently to be filled in on the joke. "I was just remembering when I was young my mother used to tell me that if I was bad the Goblin King would come and take me away."

"That sounds incredibly scary." Adam remarked. "Seriously I would be extremely terrified."

"I think that was what she wanted."

"So you know about my home life. Tell me about yours." Adam said. He was curious on how she survived with a mother who was intent on terrifying her young daughter.

"Pretty boring if you ask me. I have the whole two parental and a brother thing going on. I was a latch-key kid seeing as both my parents worked. I love to cook after all the years I had to make my brother and myself dinner. I love animals and little babies and they seem to like me so I guess I am not a psychopath."

"How did you end up here?"

"Well I basically failed out of four schools in like three years and nobody could ever figure out why until a teacher from the last school I went to was like maybe she is not being challenged enough. So they tested me and found out I was some sort of genius prodigy. My parents started looking for another school to send me to and they found this place has special classes for people like me so they started filling out countless financial aide forms and here I am."

"If you don't mind me asking what is your deal with Cena?"

"You don't like him do you?" Lea prodded. When she did not get an answer she figured out that was the case. "It's simple he's failing and is in danger of getting kicked off the football team. So naturally who does the dumb jock go to when he needs tutoring? Why the genius of course. I admit I didn't want to help him but I figured he could get Orton to leave me and my friends alone."

"Orton is a pompous asshole. He's the reason my knee is shot." There was so much anger written all over his face. Lea was a little afraid. She sat next to him and just watched him. She did not say anything in fear that he might snap at her. But eventually he relaxed. "I'd like to take him down one day."

"Then why not do it?" Lea asked. It sounded pretty reasonable to her. Then again she loathed the man just as much as he did. "An eye for an eye. Well I guess a knee for a knee in your case."

"I've thought about just bashing his knee cap in with a crow-bar or something along those lines but then I would be no better than him. I may not be able to play football anymore but at least I am able to look at myself in the mirror and know that I am a pretty decent person."

"Why do you hate Cena?" Adam bit down on his lower lip.

"My cousin Janine used to go here and Cena pursued her. She liked having his attention but after a while his eyes began to wander. He broke up with her and then started spreading rumors all over the school that she was a whore. It became so bad that she had to leave this school."

"Oh." Was all she could say.

"You are a nice girl and I just do not want you to end up just another notch on his belt." He admitted.

"I appreciate you looking out for me but I have no intentions of doing anything other than tutoring that brainless moron."

"If you say so." He let the subject drop. "But it's late and we are gonna get in trouble being up."

"Finish the movie tomorrow?" She asked.

"It's a date." He gave her a charming smile.

"Sweet dreams." She got up and grabbed her dvd. She gave him a smile of her own before she left him sitting there.

"So where'd you go last night?" Sadie asked over breakfast the next morning.

"Nowhere." Lea replied. Sadie gave her a look. "I was just watching a movie in the common room and then my friend joined me and we talked."

"Was it Adam?" Tiffany asked. "I think he's kinda cute and he seems to like you." She winked at Lea.

"How would you know if he likes me or not?" Lea asked. "You met the guy for like all of thirty seconds." She added.

"He likes you!" Tiffany yelled a little too loudly. Everyone in the dining room looked at them. Including Adam, he gave her a wave.

"I could kill you." Lea hissed.

"He's still looking. Blow him a kiss." Lea turned bright red.

"Wait ... did I miss something? Who's Adam."

"He's this cute senior that Lea met in the library the other day. He likes her. I just know he does." Tiffany explained.

"Guys are you forgetting that I have a boyfriend back home?" Lea asked. "Andrew has been really good to me and I will not break his trust. Besides Adam is just a friend. You know it is possible to have guy friends."

"Carlito you are a guy. Where do you stand on this?" Sadie asked.

Carlos or Carlito as everyone called him thought about the situation for a minute or so. "Although Lea is right it is possible to have guys who are friends the fact that you met him in the library is a little questionable. Did he have any books with him at the time?"

"I cannot remember." Lea answered.

"Did he spend the whole time talking to you?" Carlito asked.

"Yea I guess."

"Then he probably thought you were cute and decided to talk to you. So I have to agree with Tiffany he probably does like you."

"You guys are on crack." She refused to believe them.

"Hey Lea Frankenstein is heading this way." Sadie gave her a heads up.

"Oh joy."

"Hello there Sweetheart." John greeted his tutor. He took her hand and kissed it in which he thought was a very charming move. Lea on the other hand felt her skin crawl.

"May I help you Cena?" Lea asked. She dug her nails into his palm to get him to let her hand go. He let out a low growl and let go of her hand.

"Well I figured we could study together after dinner tonight. Maybe in my dorm." He suggested with a wink.

"How about we study in the library." She shot him down. "By the way Cena if you throw another sexual innuendo my way and I will rip your dick from your body and shove it so far up your ass there will be no medical way to remove it." Her threat sounded lame. She knew it but she did not care. She was not going to be hit on by the likes of him.

"You're feisty. I like that." He kissed her hand again. "See you later Princess."

"God I hate him!" Lea vented. "Honestly I have never hated anyone in my life as much as I hate him and Orton. I am not even hungry. I am gonna head over to talk to my English professor. See you guys later." She grabbed her breakfast tray and left the table.

Adam watched Lea as she walked away. She looked annoyed, he had seen Cena over at her table talking to her. He could see how tense she looked when he got near her. Or the look of disgust on her face when he kissed her hand. His own hand clenched in a fist as his lips touched her skin.

"You ok bro?" Matt, Adam's younger brother, asked.

Hearing his brother's voice snapped him back to attention. He relaxed his fists and took a few deep breaths. "I'm fine."

"So who's the girl?" Matt had been perceptive enough to realize that his brother had been staring at a girl across the dining hall for a while and he could put two and two together.

"She's a friend." He replied.

"Come on Adam I think I know you a little better than to believe she's just a friend." Matt scoffed.

"She is. She's my friend who I am trying to protect from the likes of Cena." Matt's jaw clenched at the mention of the football player's name.

"So are we on the same page now?" Adam asked.

"Yea we are."

Lea had finished her morning classes and had an hour free period which she intended to use as a nap time. Normally she did not take naps but she had been up late the night before and it was good to take naps every once in a great while.

The closer she got to her dorm room the more she just wanted to sleep. She was twelve paces away now ... eight ... four. Her hand was on the knob. She could visualize herself cuddling under her covers. She turned the knob and opened the door.

"Oh my god! Seriously!" She exclaimed. Both Tiffany and Carlito jumped up from her bed. Both red faced but much to Lea's relief fully clothed. "Why the hell are you two making out on my bed?"

"Well your bunk is below mine and neither Carlito or myself wanted to climb up. Your bunk is just much more convenient." Tiffany explained. She was still blushing furiously.

"Both of you get out so I can take a nap." Lea ordered.

"Sorry." Tiff said before leaving.

"Sure she is." Lea grumbled before getting into bed.

Maddie was sitting in the quad enjoying the beautiful weather. The others were in class but she decided not to go that afternoon. It was too nice to be stuck in a classroom for two hours.

"Hey Shortstuff." Orton stormed over to her. "I do not appreciate you meddling in my business."

"Whatever Orton." She motioned for him to go away.

"Do you have any idea who I am?" He asked completely outraged by the fact he was being disregarded.

"Do not care." She remarked. Then she turned to look at him so that the full force of her words could be taken in. "You may scare other people but I am not afraid of you. You are nothing more than a stereotypical jock who lives off his daddy's money. You have no idea what it is like to have to work for anything. So one day when you are pumping my gas I will try not to be too cruel to you."

Orton was stunned, nobody ever talked to him like that. He couldn't help but look at Maddie in a new light.

"This is hopeless. You have to be the biggest moron I have ever met." Lea wanted to scream.

"Yes because that was not mean at all." John retorted,

"The truth hurts."

"Come on Lea I am trying here."

"No you aren't. Your body may be here." She whacked his forehead with the back of her hand. "But your brain is in la la land."

"This stuff is boring as hell." He justified.

"Of course it is!" She really did want to just scream at him. "But you need to know it in order to pass. So pay attention."

"Can't we take a little break?" He begged.

"Fine." She sighed. She could use a few minutes to calm down before she ended up killing the football player.

"So what is up with you and Adam?" Cena asked. Then he shook his head. " It is such a shame he fucked up his knee in the first game of his senior season."

"That is none of your business." Lea snapped.

"You like him don't you?" John prodded. "You know even with your Sallie Mae status you can still do so much better than the likes of him."

"What part of it's none of your business did you not understand?"

"Just trying to get to know you." He gave her his most charming smile.

Her stomach lurched. "I'm leaving. You are on your own tonight." She grabbed her stuff and walked away from him.

"Come on Lea don't be like that." He yelled after her. "Look I'm sorry ok."

"God I hate that man!" She stormed into the dorm. The lights were off but she could see people moving around on her bed. She really was going to kill Tiffany and Carlito. "What the hell!" She yelled turning on the lights. Her insides froze. There before her looking like two deers caught in headlights were Maddie and Randy. "Ok I think I am going to vomit. Seriously Maddie out of all the guys in this school Orton ... really?"

"He's not so bad once you get to know him."

"I now have to burn my entire bed. I hope you two are happy." She began to pace. "Why my bed?"

"Well my bed is above Sadie's."

"So why not use her bed?"

"Because she would kill me."

"I am about to kill you. Get the hell out of here Orton!" Randy took off right then and there. He did not want any part of this new hostel side of Lea. Lea began furiously ripping everything off her bed.

"What are you doing?" Maddie asked.

"I now have to wash all my bedding with hot water and bleach. I hope you are happy." She scooped all her bedding up and left.

She threw her stuff in the school's washing machine. Then she walked over to the common room. She had purposely left her Labyrinth dvd in the room. She turned on the movie just to have a little comfort. She was still pissed at Maddie and Tiffany for having no respect for her personal belongings.

"Hiya Kiddo." Adam sat down next to her.

"Hey." She said gloomily.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"My roommates suck." She frowned.

"I'm sorry." He wasn't sure why he was apologizing but he felt like saying it anyways.

"Not your fault."

"So other than your sucky roommates how was your day?" He asked.

"It was actually fine until I had to tutor Cena and he pissed me off and then two of my roommates were using my bed to make out with people."

"Ewww."

"Maddie made out with Orton."

"Wow that sucks ass." He laughed.

"Jerk." She playfully punched him in the shoulder.

"What was that for?" He asked.

"You laughing at my misfortune I despise Orton with a passion. I would rather chop off my own hand than have Orton anywhere near my bed."

"Just think about this before you go to sleep. Orton and Maddie all sweaty and slobbering all over your bed."

"You are the meanest guy ever." She commented.

He laughed harder. "Yea I am kinda a prick." He shrugged. "I enjoy giving people shit. It adds to my character."

"You are still a jerk." She poked him in the side for lack of nothing better to do.

"Ouch ... that actually really hurt." He made a face.

"Really? I am so sorry I was just playing around." She began to panic.

"I'm kidding." He broke into a smile. She decided that she liked it when he smiled and thought the sound of his laugh was the best sound in the world.

"You really are mean."

"No this is mean." He began tickling her. She screamed before beginning to hysterically laugh.

"Stop it." She tried to squirm out of his grip.

"Ok." In that moment he was propped up above her. Both of them staring at each other. He lowered his face close to her's and when she showed no signs of resistance he kissed her softly.

His mouth tasted like a chocolate bar. Lea wrapped her arms around his neck to deepen the kiss. It felt so amazing to her to be kissed again. But her rational mind kicked in. She pushed him away. He looked a little hurt.

"Adam ... I can't" She said.

"Did I misread the situation? I thought you were into me."

"I am ... what I mean to say is ... it's complicated. I'm complicated."

"Well isn't there a way to uncomplicated things?" He asked.

"I don't know. Maybe. I need some time to think. I am gonna head to bed. Goodnight." She left him sitting there confused and a little offended.

When she got back to her dorm everyone was gone. She had a seat on her bare mattress and buried her face in her hands. "What am I going to do?" She asked herself before letting the tears of confusion fall.


	6. Chapter 6

Maddie rolled her eyes. She was sick and tired of Lea moping around the dorm. The young woman in question was sitting on her bed playing with her acoustic guitar. Maddie would admit that she was a good guitar player but the tune she was playing seemed depressing to her.

"Hey a bunch of us are going to go get pizza do you want to go?" Maddie asked.

"Nah I'm good here. Not really feeling all that well today. But go and have fun and eat a few slices for me." Lea forced a smile.

"You sure?" Maddie asked.

"I am sure but thanks for being a good friend and asking." She replied.

"What happened? You are more ... I dunno I wanna say depressed but I don't think that is what you are. Maybe confused."

Lea frowned. "I got a letter from Andrew. He is seeing someone else. I guess that is ok I really could not expect him to wait for me."

"I'm sorry. Are you ok?"

"Surprisingly I am fine with it."

"You sure?" Maddie asked again. She was a little worried about Lea's 'I don't care attitude'.

"Yep. Just go already." Lea rolled her eyes as Maddie finally left the room. She decided to lay down. She stared up at the bottom of Tiffany's bunk where her pictures were hung up. She thought about taking the one of her and Andrew down. But she decided not to because it was part of her past. A really great past at that.

The more she thought about it the more she decided that she should not be sitting around feeling sorry for herself. She sat up from her bunk, letting her feet hang off the side. She was not going to sit in that room a moment longer. She was free, she could do whatever she wanted without being sorry for it later. She decided that she was going to go to the gym.

The school's gym was the one part of being in that hell whole of the school that she liked. Quickly she threw on a pair of sweat pants and a sports bra.

It was a Friday and there was really nobody around. Some who lived in the nearby towns went home for the weekend. Most were like her friends, out at pizza places or the movies. But where was she heading? Not out of the school like she should ... nope she was staying in.

The gym was a little more crowded than she expected. Nobody payed her any attention when she walked in so she found an elliptical away from most of her fellow students. She fished her ipod out of her pants pocket and placed the ear buds in her ears. Soon she was working out to the hard rock melody of Marilyn Manson's "Beautiful People". She was about twenty minutes into her workout when she felt someone tapping her shoulder.

She turned her head to see a stunning blond girl smiling at her. She removed her ear buds. "Hi."

"Hey. You're Lea right? You're in my history class."

"Oh yea that's right. You're name is Brooke if I am not mistaken."

"Yep. Brooke Dibiase. You might also know my older brother Teddy and my younger brother Brett."

"I think I might have seen them around." Lea nodded. She thought she remembered herself commenting to Tiffany that she thought Brett was cute at one time or another.

"So you are the one tutoring John Cena right?" Brooke asked.

"Tutoring ... having to deal with his constant idiocy. You choose."

Brooke frowned. "Come on he's not that bad." Then she bit her lip slightly. "Is he?"

Lea laughed. "You like him don't you?" It really wasn't her business whether Brooke did or did not like Cena but she was just so obvious about it.

Brooke sighed. "Since I got here. He's friends with my brothers but he just thinks of me as a young kid."

"Lucky you then."

"That's why I was kinda hoping that because he obviously respects you enough to want you to tutor him you could put in a good word for me." Brooke looked at her with hopeful blue eyes.

Normally Lea was one to stay out of people's personal business but she decided this one time to help Brooke out. "Sure I can try."

"Really?" Brooke beamed at her. "Thank you so much." She threw her arms around Lea and gave her a tight hug. "There's a party tonight you should come with me." Brooke suggested once she pulled away from her new "friend".

"Umm ... yea sure a party could be fun." Lea replied hesitantly.

"It's in the old gym at the back of the campus. Come by my room at eight and we'll walk there together." Then she looked at her watch. "I'd better be going to get ready. I suggest you do the same."

"Yea, you are probably right."

"See you at eight then?"

"I'll be there." For the second time that day Lea forced a smile.

Her friends were still gone when she got back to her room. She grabbed her shower essentials and headed back out of the room. One hour later found her sitting in front of their common mirror putting on the last finishing touches to her make up. Nobody had returned back to the room yet so she wrote a note so her friends would not be worried and headed out.

"So who's gonna be there?" Lea asked as she walked with Brooke to the party.

"Everyone." Was Brooke's answer. Then she turned to look at Lea. "Why? Is there someone you are hoping will be there?"

Lea paled a little. "Nope just curious."

"Riiight." Brooke did not believe her for a second. "So who is he?"

"Who is who?" Lea asked confused.

"The guy you want to see." Brooke looked at her as if she were dumb.

"I just told you there is nobody." Lea insisted.

"Whatever." Brooke decided to let the subject drop.

Lea wouldn't admit it but she was kinda hoping that Adam would be at the party and that they could have a chance to talk. She wanted to explain to him her weirdness from the other night.

Music blasted from the old building. It was so loud that the walls shook. Lea's nerves flared up as she walked into the party. Brooke gave her a small smile.

"You'll be fine. Don't let people give you shit."

"Thanks."

"So you wanna drink?" Brooke asked as she guided them both over to the makeshift bar.

"No thanks I'm good." Lea declined.

"Don't you drink?" Brooke asked as she downed a jello-shot with ease.

"Of course I do. I just don't want to drink right now." Lea lied.

"Just have one."

One turned into many. Lea's head was spinning, she wandered around the party. She had no particular agenda she was just happy wandering around.

"Lea?" A voice called from behind her.

Lea turned around, a huge grin covered her face. "Adam!" she exclaimed throwing her arms around his neck. "Your foot isn't in a cast anymore!" She cried joyously.

"Are you drunk?" The question was obviously rhetorical but he felt the need to ask anyways. Obviously he could clearly tell by the way she was acting that she was.

"Yep." She confirmed what he already knew. "I am so glad I found you. I wanted to apologize for being all weird the other night. You see when you kissed me I felt guilty because at that time I had a boyfriend but you did not know that. But yesterday I got a letter from him. Apparently he is seeing someone else. I think that is really great for him." Adam raised a brow. He was not sure if he liked her drunk or not. She seemed to be one of those people who got louder and usually made a scene when drunk.

"I'm taking you back to school." He told her. She was not in a state to be around all the perverted guys they went to school with.

"Why?" She whined.

"Because I said so." He countered.

"You are not my father!" She pointed out stubbornly.

"For the love of ... screw it." He picked her up with ease and began making his way through the crowd.

"Put me down damn it." She yelled as she pounded on his back. "I am not some child."

"Sure you aren't." He muttered but it was more to himself than her.

It was not long before he got back to the school. But he was not sure what to do with her. It was almost two in the morning and he knew her roommates were probably sleeping. He bit his lower lip before deciding just to bring her back to his room. One of the perks to being a senior was you got your own little suite, no roommates to worry about.

Lea had started to calm down since they had gotten back into the school building. She was now just currently resting her head against his shoulder.

"You ok?" He asked.

"You are not a very comfortable pillow." She retorted.

"Gee thanks." He rolled his eyes as he set her down on the floor.

"So this is where you live." She took in his own little "bachelor pad".

"Yep. Not much but it's all mine."

"I like it." She said.

"Are you going to be alright? You don't feel sick do you?" he asked.

"I'm fine."

"Famous last words."

"I thought you said you were fine." He remarked as he held her hair back as she threw up.

"Don't tell my head hurts." She cried pathetically.

"How much did you have to drink?"

"I don't know." The bile had left her throat now. She thought the worst was over. With his help she stood up and made her way over to the sink. With shaking hands she scooped a mouthful of water. She swished it around before spitting it out. She did that a few more times until the taste of liquor and vomit was gone. "I am never drinking again."

He sighed. "Probably a good idea. Now lets get some sleep. You'll probably feel better in the morning."

She crawled into his bed and he covered her up. She watched as he grabbed an extra pillow and a blanket and lay them on the floor. She frowned. "Adam there is no need to sleep on the floor. This is your bed and it is big enough for the both of us."

"Are you ok with that?" He asked.

"I would not have said anything if I wasn't." She insisted.

He crawled into the bed beside her. She had no problem curing up against him. He really liked it but he wasn't going to add to her ego by telling her that.

"Thanks for taking care of me." She whispered to him.

"Anytime." He replied half asleep. "That's what friends are for right." Something about the way he said friends bothered her. Maybe she did not want to be his friend. Maybe she wanted more.


	7. Chapter 7

She sat looking over the water. She knew she should have been in class but she did not want to go to class today. Her head was still spinning from the night before. She was so caught up in looking out at the water that she did not notice that she was no longer alone until Adam sat down next to her.

"Here." He said handing her a cup of black coffee. "You'll need it."

"Thanks." She said taking the coffee from him. She blew on it before taking a sip.

"So are we never drinking again?" He asked giving her a condescending smile.

"Shut up." He let out a hearty laugh.

"Don't worry it happens to the best of us."

"My head feels like it is going to split in half." She groaned.

He wrapped an comforting arm around her shoulders. "You'll be fine."

She leaned her head to rest against his shoulder. "Thanks for taking care of me last night. I can't remember if I said it to you or not."

"You're welcome. I was lucky enough to have a friend do the same thing for me when I was a freshman. She took me to her dorm and cleaned me up."

"Oh? That was nice of her. Did anything ever become of that particular friendship?" She asked.

"It's a long story." He admitted.

"I have time." She prodded.

"Basically we were really good friends but I found myself having feelings for her. I admitted to her how I felt but she was afraid that if we became more that and something went wrong we would never be able to get our friendship back. So I told her either we were more or we were nothing. She chose nothing." His jaw clenched a little at reliving that pain.

"I'm sorry that happened to you. I am on the fence about the whole subject. My ex was one of my best friends and even though he broke up with me in a letter I cannot hate him. I still think of him as one of my best friends. The more I think about it I think we were together more because we thought that that's what we were supposed to do rather than really being in love with each other."

"So would you or would you not date your best friend?" He asked.

"I dunno ... I would have to be in the situation before I could really answer that. But I guess I would be willing to give it a shot if he was."

"Come on. We need to eat breakfast and they stop serving in twenty minutes." He pulled her up to stand next to him. "Getting some food in you will help you."

"Fine." She sighed.

The dining hall was busier than she would have guessed. She saw Sadie, Tiffany, Carlos, Maddie, and unfortunately for her Randy Orton sitting at their normal table. Adam felt her tense up and gave her hand a squeeze in support.

"Sit with me please. I don't think I can deal with Orton alone in my state." She gave him a pleading look.

"Works for me." He agreed.

"Hey Tiff. Who's the guy Lea is with?" Maddie asked as she nibble on a piece of pineapple.

"That's Adam. Lea says they are just friends but look at them. I bet that is why she did not come back to the room last night. She probably shacked up with him." Tiff remarked.

"I don't think so guys." Sadie commented. "Lea does not seem like that type of girl. You know the one to go to bed with some random guy."

"You guys obviously did not see her last night. She was crazy drunk and I am pretty sure she did leave with him." Orton added his two cents.

"Well quiet here she comes." Maddie put a stop to their discussion just as Lea and Adam came into earshot.

"Good morning guys." Lea greeted her friends less enthusiastically as she normally would.

"Hung over Lea?" Randy asked with a smile as they sat down.

"Bite me Orton."

"That's not very nice." Randy shot back.

"What can I say I don't like you very much."

"Leave it alone Orton." Sadie advised. "She is still pissed about her bed becoming the local make out spot."

"If one more person who is not me makes out on my bed I swear I will go on a murdering spree."

"So Adam, when do you start playing again?" Randy asked. He honestly had no idea that Adam could no longer play football.

"Never Orton." Adam replied a little annoyed.

"Sorry man. I had no idea I was just trying to make conversation."

"It's fine."

"Dude there you are. I have been looking for you everywhere." Adam's younger brother had a seat across from his brother.

"What is so important that you needed to hunt me down Matt?"

"We need to go home."

"Why? Is something the matter?" Everyone at the table looked between the two brothers. They were all anxiously waiting to find out why they had to go home.

"Grandpa isn't doing well and mom thinks he only has days."

"Oh my god I am so sorry." Tiffany took it upon herself to make the whole table's condolences.

"Let me finish eating and then I will head back to my room and pack. We'll leave in about an hour." Matt nodded before leaving again.

"Do you need help packing?" Lea asked.

"No, I think it's better if I go pack by myself." He replied.

"For what it's worth Adam we are all really sorry." Maddie said.

"Thanks guys. It means a lot." Adam took one last bite of his meal before standing up. "I'll come see you when I get back ok." He said to Lea.

"Uh huh." She agreed.

"Bye."

"Be safe." With that he walked away.


End file.
